A Mended Friendship
by ravenclawbookworms91
Summary: Ron is gay and isn't willing to admit it anytime soon, why should he come out if he's already very content with the way things were going in his life? What will happen when a former friend from his past comes back into his life and turns Ron's comfortable world upside down? Contains Harry/Ron Slash. Takes place in fifth year.
1. Chapter 1

Acceptance

**Summary:** Ronald Weasley was very comfortable with his life, thank you very much. He had been dating Lavender Brown for a year and a half, he had great friends and a supporting family. He was so happy with the way things were going in his life that he couldn't imagine it any other way. However, Ron is gay and isn't willing to admit it anytime soon, why should he come out if he's already very content with the way things were going in his life? What will happen when a former friend from his past comes back into his life and turns Ron's world upside down? This is a coming out story and a story about acceptance. Takes place in Ron's fifth year and has flashbacks from fourth year as well. Contains Harry/Ron slash.

Chapter 1: Betrayal

Ron Weasley scowled as he watched his former best friend walk across the great hall laughing alongside Neville and Dean. It was the first day back of their fifth year and Ron had been dreading this day all summer, he hadn't spoken to Potter ever since the last day of their fourth year when they had gotten into a heated row. The two of them have had a fallen out within the past year and it all started when Harry was chosen to compete in the Triwizard Tournament, Ron was angry that his so called best friend found a way to enter the competition without telling him and it made him even more livid when Harry acted like nothing had happened! They eventually worked things out after the first task and became friends again but Ron continue to worry that they weren't as close anymore for the remainder of the year. On the day of the last task, his family came to support Harry and after hours of waiting to see who won the Triwizard Tournament, Harry had appeared holding the cup, sobbing, and holding Cedric Diggory's body in his arms claiming Lord Voldemort was back. When they went to see Harry in the hospital, everything seemed to be fine and despite from being tired and had to go through a terrible ordeal, his former friend acted like himself. Hermione and Ron visited Harry everyday until he was released and suddenly, the boy who lived started to avoid his friends and everyone else around them. No matter how many times they tried to talk to him or spend time with him, Harry claimed he wanted to be alone and even though it didn't bother him, he could see that Harry's actions were upsetting Hermione but despite her asking Ron to give Harry time, he was so fed up with him that he decided to confront Harry on their final day at Hogwarts:

_Ron saw Harry sitting at the tree by himself by the lake reading a piece of parchment, looking upset, while the rest of the students were enjoying their last day. "Ron, please don't" Hermione tried pulling his arm to keep on walking, "Let Harry have his space." _

_"__Hermione, he's had his space for two weeks already!" Ron snapped, glaring at her, "I'm getting tired of the way he's treating us, he's upsetting you and I can see it."_

_"__He's gone through a lot, Ron." Hermione insisted, looking over at Harry, "When he's ready to talk to us again, he will. Just please let him be."_

_"__I'm sorry, 'Mione," Ron said stubbornly, "If you don't want to talk to him that's okay but I need to find out why he's gone all mental on us and avoiding us!" Hermione opened her mouth to protest but Ron pulled his arm out of her grip and walked over to his best friend, who looked up and frowned when Ron sat down next to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harry hide the piece of parchment he was looking at. _

_"__What do you want?" Harry asked, his voice was somewhat cold and he sounded annoyed._

_"__I want to see what's bothering my best friend," Ron snapped, not taking his tone lightly. _

_"__I told you already," Harry snapped back, standing up quickly, "I don't want to talk about it, why can't you just leave me alone, Ron?"_

_"__I'm sorry that I'm worried about you!" Ron shouted, letting his anger get the best of him and ignoring the fact that people were starting to stare at him, "Ever since the third task, you've been acting mental and treating us like shit! You're hurting Hermione and I feel like I'm losing my best mate!"_

_"__I just need time," Harry insisted loudly, looking uncomfortable that everyone was staring at him. "Look, Ron, can't we do this somewhere else?"_

_"__No," Ron raised his voice, "We're doing this right here!"_

_"__Ron," Harry begged lowering his voice and he looked angry but was trying to remain patient, "I will talk to you and Hermione, let's just do this somewhere else. I don't want others listening in." _

_"__Why wouldn't you?" Ron snarled, he let his temper get the best of him and he wasn't thinking of what he was saying, "You love the publicity! You couldn't get enough of it when you entered the tournament underage and got away with it. You just couldn't handle that Cedric was our champion, the famous Harry Potter just had to enter for publicity and now you want more! You're probably saying you know who is back so you can get more attention!"_

_The second he said it and the second he saw Harry flinch and his facial switched from looking angry to hurt, Ron immediately regretted it. It didn't help that people around him gasped and he heard Hermione yell his name in shock. _

_"__Harry," Ron said quickly, "I didn't –"_

_"__You think I'm doing this for attention?" Harry demanded, "Really? I can't believe you of all people would say that! You have no idea what I went through in that graveyard! Just leave me alone, Ron, I don't want to talk to anyone!" Harry grabbed his bag and walked away leaving Ron to stare after him. _

_"__You know what Harry," Ron roared after him before he could stop himself, "I will leave you alone, for good. If you don't want to be friends then fine, I'm done trying! I don't want anything to do with you anymore!"_

_Harry stopped and turned around, glaring at Ron, his eyes were filled with tears but he was holding them back, "Our friendship was over when you accused me of saying Voldemort was back for attention." He ran off into the castle, leaving Ron stand there looking after him furiously and then turned to look at the bunch of students, "What are you lot staring at?" he snapped and walked back to the castle, shaking. _

A few hours after their row, Rita Seeker cornered Ron and asked to interview him for the daily prophet on why he felt Harry was lying about the return of You-Know-Who. Ron, still furious with the way Harry was acting, agreed to do the interview and vented to her. He regretted it the second Rita thanked him and walked away, smiling. Ron avoided Harry and Hermione all evening, dreading the following morning. He was so paranoid about doing an interview with Rita Seeker that he confided in his twin brothers for their advice and their reaction confirmed he had messed up.

_"__You went to Rita Seeker!" George exclaimed looking at Ron as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You're a prat, Ron! After all Harry has been through, I can't believe you would betray him like that."_

_"__I know, I messed up," Ron groaned putting his head on the desk, they were in an empty corridor, "I was just so angry at him for refusing to speak to me and Hermione that I wasn't thinking!"_

_"__You're right," Fred said shrilly, for the first time in a long time both of the twins were being serious and it killed Ron to see how disappointed they looked, "You weren't thinking! How could you do this to Harry, he's supposed to be your best friend!"_

_"__What's going on?" A voice said behind them and they turned to see Hermione standing there with Ginny. _

_"__How did you find us?" Ron groaned, he wasn't ready for Hermione to hear what he's done. _

_"__You've been avoiding me ever since your row with Harry," Hermione said irritably as she took a seat at one the desks and Ginny sat down too, "I was worried you've done something stupid like you always do when you lose your temper – "_

_"__Too late for that," George muttered under his breath but thankfully, Hermione didn't hear him. _

_"__So, I thought it would be best to look for you and Ginny wanted to go with me." Hermione continued, "It wasn't that hard to find you, we could hear the three of you arguing all the way from the end of the corridor, why are you arguing anyways?"_

_"__Tell her, Ron," Fred turned to look at his brother, "Go on, tell her what you did." _

_"__Tell me what?" Hermione asked looking questioningly at Ron, who looked down at the floor and felt his ears grow red. _

_"__Tell her now or we will," George threatened, Ron looked up at everyone in the room and shook his head. His brothers were already disappointed with him, he couldn't stand the thought of Hermione and Ginny being upset with him too for what he's done. _

_"__Alright, since you won't we will." Fred spoke up when Ron didn't saying anything, "Ron had a run in with Rita Seeker and did an interview with her about Harry lying about You-Know-Who's return." _

_"__You WHAT?" Ron flinched when both Hermione and Ginny screamed, turning on him._

_"__How could you?" Hermione chastised, looking unbelievably at him, "Harry is your best friend –"_

_"__Was my best friend," Ron corrected, still looking down at the ground, " And skip the lecture, alright!" He stood up, having enough of this, "I already feel bad enough, I don't need this."_

_"__You're not going anywhere," Hermione snapped grabbing his arm, "Until you explain this to Harry!"_

_"__I'm not talking to Potter!" Ron was fuming, he didn't care if he was being stubborn, he wanted nothing to do with speaking to Harry about what he's done. _

_"__Ron – "_

_"__No, Hermione," Ron interrupted, "I'm not speaking to him and you lot better not say anything to him either." Before anyone could respond, he ran out of the classroom and into the common room. He saw Harry sitting in the chair by the fireplace, reading a piece of parchment and for a second, Ron considered talking to him and apologizing profusely for what he's done. But when Harry glanced up, he made eye contact with Ron and gave him a death glare, before getting up and going to the boy's dormitory. Ron walked over to the chair Harry was sitting in and put his head in hands. He had really messed up. _

Ron began to eat his breakfast and glanced over at Harry, who was still talking to Dean and Neville. He continued to think about the incident with Rita, even though he wanted nothing to do with Harry and their friendship was already ruined to the point they could no longer be in the same room as each other without it getting uncomfortable, let alone talk to one another, he still felt horrible for doing the interview. This past summer, articles by the daily prophet were published about Harry lying about what went down in the graveyard and about Cedric's death. Harry was getting a lot of hate by the people who refused to believe You-Know-Who was back. Ron's interview was the first article in the daily prophet that accused Harry of lying and everyone, including Harry, were shock that Ron was one of the first people to betray him.

_I'm a bloody coward, Ron thought miserably as he sat on his bed the next morning. He didn't want to go downstairs because he was too afraid of running into Harry. By now students were reading the daily prophet and his interview. He knew he couldn't sit there any longer in case Harry walked in but he was too afraid to face everyone in the school. _

_After a couple of minutes of determining whether or not he should get up, the dormitory door was thrown opened and in walked the person Ron was dreading to see. He was holding the front page of the daily prophet in his hands. _

_"__Want to explain this?" Harry snarled throwing the Daily Prophet on his bed._

_"__Harry – "_

_"__I thought you would've been on my side!" Harry roared, looking hurt and betrayed, "Why would you go to that rubbish reporter?"_

_"__I was angry and – "_

_"__You did this because you were angry?" Harry asked scandalously, "You told the whole wizarding world I'm lying about Voldemort returning and what I went through in that graveyard because you were angry?"_

_"__I didn't mean – "_

_"__Obviously you did!" Harry exploded, raising his voice, Ron was starting to get irritated that Harry wouldn't let him get a word in._

_"__I regretted it the second it happened," Ron yelled, hoping Harry would believe him, "I was mad and wasn't thinking, you were my best friend and I was worri – "_

_"__If I was really your best friend, you would've understood I needed space after everything I've gone through, you wouldn't have accused me of lying about Voldemort and going to Rita Seeker about it!" Harry said harshly and he walked to the dormitory door before Ron could get another word out and then he turned around, "You should start looking for a new best mate, Ron. I want nothing to do with you anymore." He slammed the door so hard that it began to shake the pictures on the wall._

Ron and Harry's friendship officially ended that day and the two of them haven't spoken all summer, the only person he kept in touch with was Hermione. Even though she was furious at Ron, she felt Ron had gotten what he deserved when they went back to the platform that day and his parents had gotten ahold of him. After cornering Harry and hugging him, apologizing for their son's actions, they started to turn on Ron in public and demanded to know why he would say such a thing to the daily prophet about Harry lying. Hermione felt Ron had been embarrassed enough and started to talk to him again and they were still close. She spent the last couple of weeks at the burrow before coming back to school and even though Ron didn't want to admit it, it wasn't the same without Harry there.

Just at that second, Hermione walked into the great hall and Ron watched as she walked up to Harry and tapped him on the shoulder. When Harry turned around and saw her, he gave her a hug then started to talk to her excitedly causing Ron to frown. Hermione never mentioned her and Harry being on speaking terms or even being friends with one another still. He watched as she hugged Harry again and then went over to sit next to Ron, "What?" she asked when she noticed Ron staring at her.

"Since when are you friends with Potter?" Ron asked loud enough for Harry to hear and the boy who lived turned around to scowl at him.

"Just because you have a problem with _Harry_," She emphasized his name and glared at him defensively, "Doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be friends with him. In fact, I never stopped being his friend."

"I have every reason to have a problem with him 'Mione," Ron hissed, "He's been acting like a prat towards me!"

"You accused him of saying You-Know-Who is back for attention and then did an interview with Rita Seeker about how you believed he was lying," Hermione said coldly, "I don't blame him in the slightest for not wanting anything to do with you, especially since most of the wizarding world is accusing him of lying about You-Know-Who." She pointed to the cover of the daily prophet and on the front cover was another article about Harry and what happened in the graveyard.

"Hermione, he refused to speak to us for almost two weeks after the third task," Ron argued, ignoring his friend rolling her eyes, "I know it hurt your feelings too."

"He was going through a difficult time and had every reason for wanting to be alone." Hermione said as she began to pile food on her plate, "He approached me on the Hogwart's Express to apologize for the way he was acting and said he needed time. I also told him I had nothing to do with you going to Seeker on the way back to platform 9 ¾ and we talked the whole train ride home. I've been communicating with him all summer."

"Why didn't you say something?" Ron blurted out.

"That's none of your concern," Hermione said stiffly, "Harry doesn't question me being friends with you so you shouldn't question me about my friendship with Harry."

Ron opened his mouth to argue but at that moment, Lavender Brown sat next to him and kissed his cheek. He decided to drop it and looked over at his girlfriend, the two of them had been together since third year and he was madly in love with her. Hermione rolled her eyes and had gotten up to walk out of the hall, letting the two of them be alone. "You're late," he grinned at her and his girlfriend sighed, "Parvati wanted me to go with her to see Professor Trelawney and we got into a conversation. I lost track of time, why do you look so glum?"

"Probably because Harry's in the great hall and Ron's been trying to avoid him ever since we got back here," another voice said and Ginny had taken a seat across from him.

"You know if you apologize to him, he –"

"I have no reason to apologize to Potter," Ron cut his girlfriend off and felt bad when she looked hurt.

He heard an angry tut and looked up to see Harry walk by him, trying not to make eye contact with him. Ron knew Harry had obviously overheard him just now but he didn't care. It was true, he owed Harry nothing and wasn't going to apologize to him.

"Hey Harry," Ginny grinned suddenly and Ron wanted to groan, why would she talk to Harry right in front of him?!

"Hey Gin," Harry smiled back, ignoring Ron all together, "How was your summer?"

"Boring," Ginny replied back, "How about you?"

"Fine," Harry said, "The muggles paid no attention to me which is something I enjoy so it was quite peaceful." Ginny laughed flirtishly, making Ron scowl, his sister has had a crush on him for as long as he could remember. He glanced sideways at Lavender, just to see that she was smiling at Harry too.

The bell rang and Harry sighed, "I better get to class, I'll see you later Ginny and Lavender." He turned to walk out of the hall and as they were getting up, Ron hissed at Ginny, "Why would you talk to him when I'm right here?"

"I just said hi," Ginny said defensively, "I don't care if you two aren't friends anymore, I still like Harry."

"Just don't talk to him in front of me," Ron said as they turned the corner, "How do you think I feel seeing my ex best friend talking to my sister right in front of me?"

"I don't care how you feel," Ginny replied casually, "Harry's still my friend and I'll talk to him whenever I want to."

"I don't think you're being fair," Lavender spoke up, holding his hand, "If Ginny talked to you in front of Harry, he wouldn't have minded."

"Well yeah," Ginny smirked and then put a hand on Ron's shoulder, "But Harry knows I'm related to Ron and have no choice but talk to him and spend time with him."

"And Harry talks to me, even though I'm dating you –" Lavender started to say but then Ginny quickly chimed in to change the subject, "Which I still don't know what you see in this goof, I thought for sure the only person he would ever kiss is our Auntie Muriel – "

Lavender started to laugh and Ron glowered at her, he knew his sister was joking but he hated it when she brought that up. "I'd watch it if I were you –"

"I was only joking," Ginny giggled and kissed Ron on the cheek, "You need to stop taking everything so seriously." She walked off and Ron glared after all as they walked to their classroom.

"She has a point you know," Lavender said gently, "You take everything too serious sometimes, Ron."

"She embarrassed me in front of you," Ron complained, making Lavender laugh again, she kissed him on the cheek comfortingly.

"She's your little sister, she's supposed to do that."

"Well she's still a pain in the ass sometimes."

"But you still love her," Lavender said gently.

"True," Ron admitted, grinning but felt his ears going red. Him and Ginny had gotten really close over the summer, with him being lonely, he started to spend more time with her. By the end of the summer, they were inseparable. Ginny had just turned fourteen years old and she was beautiful, just seeing her walk down the hall made some guys turn to look after her and it made Ron furious. He hated the fact that guys were started to show interest in his little sister and he started to become incredibly over protective of Ginny, which annoyed his sister to no end. He didn't care though if his sister got angry at him for being overprotective, no bloke was going to break her heart and Ron was going to make damn sure of it. His thoughts suddenly were interrupted when Hermione caught up to them and they stood outside the potions classroom. When Harry arrived, Ron was so focused on pulling Lavender to the other side of the door to get away from him that he accidentally bumped into Malfoy. He apologized quietly and ignored Hermione rolling her eyes at him.

"Woah watch it Weasel," Malfoy taunted, looking amused, "Why are you in such a hurry to get away from Potter? Of course, I don't blame you but still."

"Shove off Malfoy," Ron muttered, looking to the ground in embarrassment.

"That's not nice," Malfoy taunted, "Didn't your mum teach you any manners? I'm guessing not, she's probably more focused on not having any money."

Ron opened his mouth to argue but he felt Lavender put a small hand on his shoulder and he bit his tongue. "It's not worth it," she said quietly and gave Malfoy a dirty look, before pulling her boyfriend away to stand somewhere else.

"By the way, Weasel," Malfoy said loudly, smirking at Harry, "I loved that interview you did with Rita Seeker about Potter. It's about time you take in notice in how attention hungry he is."

Ron flinched but bit his tongue, he hated it when people brought up the interview he did last year, especially since Harry was right there. However, it was Hermione who spoke up, "Shut up, Malfoy."

"How dare you speak to me," Malfoy walked over and spat in her face, "You filthy little mudblood."

Ron had enough, he drew out his wand and let go of Lavender's hand, even though he was tired of Malfoy insulting his family, calling Hermione a mudblood was the last straw. He shoved Malfoy out of the way and out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Harry take out his wand too and started to get into the Slytherin's face. "Don't you ever call her that!" Harry snapped, glaring at Malfoy and Ron was shaking in fury at the smug look on the blonde hair's face. He raised his fist to punch him but then he felt a hand grab both his and Harry's shoulders, "Well, well, well, " Snape sneered, looking between Ron and Harry, "Why are we trying to attack another student?"

"Malfoy called Hermione a mudblood, sir." Ron spoke up before Harry, "And he insulted my family."

"So?" Snape raised his eyebrows.

"So I'm sick of him insulting us!" Ron said angrily, "And if you weren't such a coward, you'll do something instead of favoring him!"

Snape raised his eyebrows and said quietly, "You're right, Weasley, I will do something. 10 points from Gryffindor for trying to attack a student and detention for both you and Mr. Potter."

"But sir – "

"Do I need to take 50 points away, Mr. Potter?" Snape snapped looking at Harry, "You two will be in my office tonight at 7 pm to serve your detention – "

"This is ridiculous!" Ron yelled

"Why isn't Malfoy being punished?" Harry protested, glaring at the Potions Master, "He's the one who started it!"

"Enough," Snape interrupted, "And now I'm going to make it a week's worth of detention for the both of you. This is not a good way to start the new year, now get into my classroom before I add another week. Ron cursed under his breath, shaking, as he hurried away from Snape, Malfoy, and Harry. He slammed his books down onto the table, Lavenders sat down next to him and Hermione decided to sit next to Harry, "Just drop it, alright, Hermione?" he heard Harry say and he turned to look at Lavender, who also looked like she was going to give him a lecture, "Don't start," Ron muttered and turned away to focus on the lesson. This was the worst first day of his life, he had already landed a detention and the worst part was he was going to have to do the detention with his former best friend, the one person he wanted to avoid the most.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Detention

"Weasley, Potter!" Snape barked at the end of the lesson, "Stay for a couple of minutes, I need to give your details about your detention."

"Go on," Ron sighed to Lavender, "And tell Flitwick I might be a few minutes late." He turned to walk to the front of the classroom and Harry followed him, neither of them spoke while they waited for Snape to come out of his office and Ron just wanted to get out of there. It was already bad enough they landed a detention together.

"Alright," Snape said quietly looking between the two, he opened his mouth to continue but then Harry spoke up.

"Sir," he said quickly, glaring at Ron, "Can we do our detentions separately? I don't want to be in the same room as this traitor."

"And I don't want to do a detention with an attention hungry –"

"Silence," Snape snapped looking between the two of them, "You two will be down at my office around 7 every night this week and you will be doing the detention together. Now you two will be organizing my potion ingredient storage closet. I want all the ingredients in a nice, clean flask and I want you to organize all 700 ingredients in alphabetical –"

"700?!" Ron repeated weakly, that will take them forever to do.

"That will take forever to do!" Harry complained and to Ron's annoyance, Snape smirked.

"You have a week to organize it and around 11, I will come to check on your progress. If you do a decent job, I will dismiss you but if not, you will stay there until I'm satisfied with your progress, so I suggest you two put whatever feud you're having aside and work together." The late bell rang and both Harry and Ron walked out of the classroom together silently to charms class. Neither of them spoke as they entered the charms classroom and Ron took a seat next to his girlfriend and Hermione, and Harry sat at an empty desk on the other side of the room. Ron had a hard time trying to concentrate on the lesson, he was too worried about tonight's detention. Obviously, as much as he wanted too, he couldn't avoid his former best friend while they had to organize Snape's potion ingredients storage closet and he had to speak with Harry.

When the bell rang, Ron hurriedly gathered his things and had gotten up to leave the classroom. He complained to Lavender the whole way to the great hall for lunch about what Snape was making them do and how didn't want to do a detention with Potter. Just as he took a breath to calm down when they walked into the great hall, he saw Ginny talking to Harry animatingly and laughing. Ron frowned as he watched Harry take his sister's hand and led her over to the Gryffindor Table. The second they sat down Harry put an arm around her and Ginny put her hand on shoulder and that was when Ron started to see red. "Ron," Lavender warned, also looking at them, "Don't cause a commotion."

"No," Ron snapped, "She is not going to see, Potter." And then he marched over to them, "What do you think you're doing?" Ron snarled at Ginny, who sighed and threw him a dirty look, "I'm having lunch with Harry, is that okay?"

"No, it's not okay!" Ron hissed, "I don't want to see my sister flirting and having her arms around Potter! If you think you're going to date him - "

"I'm allowed to have my arms around anyone I like." Ginny yelled, causing people to look at them, "Just because you have a problem with Harry doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be friends with him or date him!"

Harry started to look uncomfortable and he quietly said while avoiding his eye contact, "You're making a huge deal of nothing, I was comforting Ginny because she was telling me how she missed me over the summer and how she wishes you and I could work things out because she feels like she's stuck in the middle. I told her I don't think I could ever work things out with you and that was when she got upset. I was telling her just now that even you and I are no longer friends, that my friendship with your sister will never change just like it hasn't changed with anyone else in your family or Hermione or Lavender. Now before you land yourself another detention, I suggest you leave her alone because you're causing a scene."

Ron turned around and felt his ears going red when he saw everyone looking at them. Without saying anything, he turned and walked out of the Great Hall. He started to walk to the Gryffindor Common Room when he heard his name being called, "I don't want to talk," he turned around and saw Hermione, who jumped back in surprise at his tone, "Oh sorry, 'Mione," Ron flushed, "I thought you were Lavender."

"It's alright," Hermione said gently, "I just heard from both Harry and Lavender about what just happened and I wanted to see if you were alright?"

"No I'm bloody not alright, I walked into the great hall and saw my sister hanging all over Potter."

"_Harry_," She emphasized his name again, "Told me he was comforting Ginny because she was upset that two are too stubborn to talk about what happened. I feel the same way, Ron, it's hard for me too. It's hard knowing I can never spend time with both of my best friends because you two aren't speaking anymore and I can see where she's coming from. But I don't say anything to either of you because the both of you get mad whenever I try too."

Ron didn't know what to say, he somewhat felt bad that his and Harry's row have been upsetting both Hermione and Ginny, but he knew he could never work things out with Harry or try too. Their friendship was so ruined that even if they did try to talk, they could never work things out. "I guess I can see where you're coming from 'Mione," he finally admitted, "But I messed up badly and even if I attempted to talk to him, there's no way things will ever be the same between us again."

"Just try to be more sympathetic," Hermione said gently patting his shoulder, "And who knows maybe doing this detention will help both you and Harry work things out. I know even if you two don't want to admit it, you miss each other." She gave Ron a pat on the back and walked towards the great hall again leaving Ron to stand there and think about everything she just said. He wasn't sure if she was right about missing Harry, he never gave it much of a thought. Sure, it was lonely during the summer where they haven't spoken and he wished he had Harry around to tell him what was going on in his life. He had recently gotten prefect and had gotten a good enough broomstick to try out for the quidditch team and he wished he could've had Harry as a friend to share all of these things in his life. But did he miss him?

He took a deep breath and continued to the common room, he was no longer hungry, he was still a little peeved about seeing his sister hanging all over Harry. Of all the people Ginny had to start dating in the school, Harry Potter was the last person he wanted his sister with. Ron went to the dormitory and laid on the bed, he was finished with classes for the rest of the day and in a little bit he was planning on meeting Lavender to walk around the lake with before dinner. But also, he was so tired, being paranoid about going back to Hogwarts and having to see Harry made him exhausted. The second his head hit the pillow, he fell asleep.

Ron was shaken awake and jumped when he saw Lavender, "Have you been asleep all this time?" she demanded, "You were supposed to meet me after lunch!"

"Sorry, got tired, didn't even know I fell asleep." Ron said groggily and he yawned, "What time is it?"

"It's nearly 6:00," Lavender said watching him stretch and then standing up, "You have to be at your detention in an hour."

Ron groaned and started walking downstairs into the common room with Lavender, he had been dreading his detention all day. When they got to the great hall, he hadn't realized how much he was starving until he sat down and he regretted skipping lunch. "Ron," a quiet voice said behind him and he turned around to see Harry standing there, looking uncomfortable, "Snape wants us in his office in fifteen minutes, he changed the detention time."

"Oh," Ron said and looked at his plate, "I'll be there as soon as I'm done eating." Harry nodded and quickly walked out of the great hall. "Figures the bloody git would change the time last minute," he grumbled stabbing his food with his fork and hurrying to finish eating so he could make it in time. By the time he and Lavender walked down into the dungeon, Harry was standing outside Snape's office and Ron awkwardly kissed Lavender goodbye on the cheek and she wished the both of them good luck before leaving.

They stood there awkwardly waiting for Snape to arrive and neither of them looked at each other. Finally, Snape's office door opened and he let the two Gryffindor's inside, "Well," he sneered, "You two know what to go get to it, the storage closet is over here. I will be back around 10 to see your progress." Snape led them over to the closet and after they walked in, Ron looked around in disgust, the office was filthy! Empty bottles were laying on the floor, the shelves were overstocked with potion ingredients, papers were everywhere, and worse of all there were bottles of already brewed potions laying around, "I don't care how you organize it, as long as it's neat, get to it!" He closed the door and both Harry and Ron made eye contact, finally it was Ron who spoke, "This is going to take forever, look at the mess. I reckon he purposely made a mess of it."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Harry said quietly, "He was probably looking for an excuse to punish anyone so he could make them organize this pig pen."

"Too bad it had to be us," Ron rolled his eyes and out of the corner of his eye he could've sworn Harry smiled, "How should we do this?"

"Maybe we should organize the potions, ingredients, and empty bottles first into separate piles before placing them on the shelves?" Harry looked around the floor, "That way it'll be easier to separate them onto the shelves?"

"Right," Ron said nervously, it was weird talking to Harry again even though they had too, "How about I start with the brewed potions and empty bottles?"

"Sounds fine to me," Harry shrugged and then they both started to work quietly, as Ron sorted through the potions, he saw a label with Snape's sloppy writing that Amortentia – Love Potion and he burst into laughter, causing Harry to look over at him, "What?"

"Snape brewed a love potion," Ron snorted showing him it and Harry started to laugh, "Ugh, that's revolting!"

"I guess the poor bloke is so desperate he has to use a love potion to get someone to like him," Harry chuckled, "I can't imagine anyone falling for that git, wonder who he fancies – "

"Probably Professor Umbridge," Ron suggested and then burst out laughing, "No! Professor Trelawney!"

"Ew, no one would be that desperate to date that old hag," Harry grinned, laughing just as hard as Ron. It was weird they were talking and laughing together, it reminded Ron of when they were friends and he missed it. Maybe Hermione was right after all and he wanted to make amends.

"Look Harry – " Ron said quietly as he continued to sort through the potions, "About last year, I'm really sorry for going to Seeker, I should've given you time like you wanted."

Harry was silent for a couple of minutes and Ron felt his stomach drop, he was hoping Harry would've wanted to talk about it. Finally, Harry asked, "Did you mean it?"

"Mean what? That I'm sorry? Yeah of course I did!"

"No," Harry asked, looking at Ron, "Do you really believe I said Voldemort was back for attention?"

Ron felt his ears go red and he shook his head, "No, I don't think you did it for attention," he admitted, "I dunno why I even said that, I was just so worried about you and it hurt when you avoided us. I said it out of anger and I regretted it the second I said it."

"But why would you go to Seeker?" Harry asked looking confused, "If you didn't mean it then why would you do an interview with her?"

"I was still angry and upset about our row," Ron said, feeling awful about everything he's done to Harry, "Rita cornered me after it and I was so livid and frustrated with you that I agreed to do it, I didn't even realize what I was doing until she walked away. I regret going to her because I lost you as a best mate and it's the worst mistake I ever made. You have every right to hate me, I'm sorry I did it." Harry didn't respond and Ron felt tears come to his eyes and he turned away, he concentrated on separating the bottles and they didn't speak unless they had to for the next few hours. Once they had separated everything into piles, Snape came in and dismissed them, please to see their progress for the night. As they walked back to the common room, Harry looked at Ron, "I appreciate that you were honest about everything but I still feel betrayed by you and it's going to take sometime to believe that you're really sorry and trust you again."

"I just wish I had my best mate back," Ron said quietly looking down onto the ground, "I wish I never gone to Seeker or said the things I said."

"If you really want us to be friends again, you going to have to prove you're really sorry, Ron." Harry replied coldly, "I can't be friends with someone who betrays me. How did you think I felt when I saw the article in the Daily Prophet and seeing my so called best mate accusing me of lying, I just can't forgive you right now."

"I understand," Ron whispered feeling his stomach drop, this is not what the conversation he wanted to have with Harry at all. When they got to the common room, he saw Lavender and Hermione stayed up to wait for him. Harry went up to boy's dormitory and Ron walked over to them, "How did it go?" Lavender ask and Ron shook his head, "Oh fine," he lied, "I'm just tired so I might be going to bed."

"Are you alright Ron?" Hermione asked looking concern and Ron smiled, "Yeah, I'm great," he lied, "Just really glad that detention is over. I think I'm going to go to bed though."

Before anyone could say anything, Ron had gotten up and walked to the boy's dormitory, when he opened the door, he saw Harry was already sound asleep. As he got dressed, he quietly vowed that he would find a way to earn Harry's trust back and become friends with him once again. He might've been stubborn before but spending the last few hours with him in detention, he realized how much he missed him.

The next day, everyone in the boy's dormitory were woken up by a loud bang, Ron jumped up with a start and saw his girlfriend walk in looking distraught, "I hate her," she shouted at Ron, who jumped in alarm and sighed, he hated when Lavender got in these moods because he'd always have to be pulled into the middle. "What's wrong?" he finally asked nervously, while the other boys in the dormitory listened closely, "I hate that stupid Pansy Parkinson!" Lavender screamed, "I was in the girl's bathroom and she tried taking my wand then denied it when I caught her!"

"Did you get it back?" Ron asked frowning, why would she get upset about something as little as that?

"Yes!" Lavender snapped looking at Ron as if he were insane, "But that's not the point, I want you to talk to her!"

"Not the bloody hell again," Ron groaned, the last time Lavender made him talk to Pansy, she threatened to curse him, "You need to start sticking up for yourself!"

"If you're a good boyfriend you will," Lavender retorted and when Ron didn't say anything, someone Ron never expected to stand up for him spoke up.

"You're not being reasonable, Lav," Harry said and Ron stared at him in shock, "Just because Ron doesn't want to get involved, it doesn't make him any less of a boyfriend."

"You don't understand," Lavender whined, "Every time Pansy starts with me, Ron gets mad when I ask him to talk to her –"

"Because she threatened to curse me last time!" Ron said angrily, "You shouldn't let her get to you anyways, that's why she keeps trying get a rise out of you!"

"Fine," Lavender fumed and glared at Ron, "If you can't defend your own girlfriend then maybe we shouldn't be together." She walked out of the boy's dormitory and slammed the door, Ron, being used to his girlfriend acting this way whenever she didn't get her way, groaned and put his hands in head.

"You alright, Ron?" A quiet voice ask and he looked up to see Harry watching him, looking concerned.

"No," Ron sighed, "But I'm used to it, ever since what happened the last time she tried getting me involved with Pansy, she's been getting angry that I don't want to get involved anymore."

"What happened the last time?"

"Pansy threatened to use the torture curse on me," Ron shuddered just thinking about it, "She only bugs Lavender on purpose because she knows she'll get an reaction from Lavender and it's annoying."

"You shouldn't let her talk to you that way though," Harry frowned, "That wasn't right of her."

"I know," Ron smiled, feeling grateful that Harry was talking to him again, "But I mean it, I'm used to it. In a few days, she'll apologize and she'll be back to normal, that's what always happen. Thanks for sticking up for me."

"No problem," Harry smiled shyly, "If you want I can talk to her for you –"

"Nah, that's alright," Ron said looking appreciative at Harry, "But thanks, Harry, really."

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the other boys exchange looks at one another, this was the first time since their row that Harry and Ron had shared a conversation without being forced too. As they walked down to the common room for breakfast, Neville asked, "So are you two good, again?" Harry and Ron exchanged a look, even though they were somewhat on speaking terms, they still weren't friends and Ron could feel it, "Not really," Ron admitted and Harry nodded in agreement, "Harry has every right to be angry with me though but I do appreciate you sticking up for me." Harry nodded and smiled shyly again then started walking ahead of them to say hello to Ginny and walked out of the portrait hole with her. He noticed the other boys look at him nervously as if Ron was going to start another commotion but remembering his conversation with Hermione yesterday, he decided to ignore what he just saw.

When they got to the great hall, Ron saw Lavender sitting with Parvati and the two of them glowered at Ron. He sighed, of course Lavender had to get her best friend involved and more than likely Parvati was going to confront Ron about what happened this morning and he was not in the mood for it. Hermione sat down in front of him, along with Ginny sitting next to him, the both of them looking worried, "You alright Ron?" Ginny asked putting a hand on his back, "Harry said you and Lavender had gotten into an argument?"

"No I'm not," Ron muttered, "Apparently I'm not a good boyfriend if I don't fight her battles for her."

"That's not true," Ginny exclaimed, "Did she really say that?" She glared over at Lavender and Parvati, who were still gossiping about Ron.

"Yeah, all because she lets Pansy get under her skin and I didn't want to talk to her," Rom grumbled, stabbing his food angrily.

"I wouldn't either," Hermione looked shocked, "Didn't she try to curse you last time?"

"Yes," Ron scowled over at Lavender, "But Lavender doesn't care, she probably wouldn't care if Pansy did curse me. She only cares about herself."

"Don't say that," Hermione started but Ron interrupted, "It's true, Hermione!" He suddenly got up and walked out of the great hall, he needed space from everyone, especially Lavender, with his temper, he was so close to starting an argument with her in the great hall and he wasn't in the mood to make things worse between him and Lavender. As he walked out into the entrance hall, he saw Rita Seeker standing there talking a professor and suddenly he had an idea. He thought about what Harry had said yesterday about wanting Ron to prove he was actually sorry for what he did last year. When the professor walked away from Rita, Ron marched over to her, "I want to do another interview," He looked determined and Rita smiled, "Another one about Potter lying, right? Excellent!"

"No," Ron said hurriedly, "I want you to interview me because I want to take back what I said about Harry last year. He's not lying and I want the wizarding world to know that."

"Hmm," Rita started then smirked, "You see, I'm not sure if I can do that…."

"You can and you will," Ron threatened, "Look, my friend Hermione told me about you, I know you're an unregistered Animagus and if you don't agree to this or twist any of my words, I will write an owl to my dad, he works for the ministry and my brother works for Fudge, I'm sure they'll be more than glad to – "

"Alright, alright," Rita looked both furious and terrified that Ron would threatened him, "Ok, come on let's go somewhere where we can talk."

Ron smiled, feeling proud that he managed to convince Rita to write an article about Harry telling the truth. If this didn't prove to Harry that Ron was really sorry about betraying him, he didn't know what would. He just hoped in the long run that doing this article will make him earn his trust back with Harry.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Second Interview

"Alright, Mr. Weasley," Rita Seeker smiled when Ron finished answering her last question, "Thank you for your time, I will make sure this gets posted tomorrow."

"Just please make it a positive article about, Harry," Ron said, "The wizarding world deserves to know the truth."

"I can assure you, I will," Rita smiled and then looked at him, "I don't like that you threatened me but now that I think about it, I feel the wizarding will feel fascinated to see this side of Harry Potter."

Ron sighed in relief and went back to the common room, hoping this wouldn't backfire on him. He walked to the common room and saw Hermione sitting by the fire and wanting to tell her she was right, he pulled her aside to talk to privately, "I just got done talking to Rita Seeker!" He grinned and to his surprise, Hermione looked at him as if he were insane, "Did you do another interview about Harry lying?" she hissed, "I swear Ron – "

"No, no," Ron said hurriedly grabbing her shoulder as she attempted to walk away, "No, I did an interview with Seeker to take back what I said about Harry and say I believe him."

"What?" Hermione asked looking surprised but then she grinned, "Oh Ron, that is going to mean a lot to Harry! He's going to be so happy that you did that!"

"You were right 'Mione," Ron smiled feeling just as excited as she was, "I did miss him and last night he told me, he wanted me to prove that I meant I was sorry and I figured doing another interview would make up for it."

Hermione suddenly hugged Ron and whispered, "It will make up for it, oh Ron! I'm so glad you did this, I can't wait to see Harry's reaction."

At that moment, the common door opened and Lavender and Parvati walked in. When she saw Hermione and Ron hugging, Lavender frowned, "Why are you hugging Hermione?"

Ron scowled and said coldly, "She's my friend, don't you start."

"You know, Ron," Parvati said glaring at the two of them, "It's really pathetic that you won't stand up for your girlfriend."

"I'm not standing up for her because Pansy tried to use the torture curse on me!" Ron repeated, his good mood suddenly going away, people were starting to gather around them, "I keep telling you she tries to get under you skin because you let her!"

"Ron," Hermione said quietly, taking his hand and trying to pull him away, "Come on it's not worth it."

"Why are you holding my boyfriend's hand, I'm tired of you always hanging around him whenever we fight!" Lavender shrieked and Ron sighed, even though they were civil with one another, Lavender still got jealous over Ron and Hermione's friendship.

"Don't talk to her like that," he snarled, "I keep telling you she's my best friend." Hermione pulled Ron's hand again in an attempt to pull him away from the argument.

"Please," Lavender shrieked, with tears filling her eyes, "I see it all the time, you and her always sneaking off together or going to the boy's dormitory without me!"

"You also defend her too," Parvati brought up looking between the two of them in disgust, "How come you refuse to defend Lavender but whenever someone picks on poor Hermione –"

"Because she's my friend and she would never ask me to do something dumb or dangerous like Lavender does!"

"You know what," Hermione finally chimed and threw a dirty look at the two of them, "I don't think Lavender deserves you Ron, she's obviously jealous and if she can't understand that you don't feel comfortable talking to Pansy because she threatened you before then she's the one who isn't a good significant other. You deserve better."

"You little mudblood!" Lavender screamed in rage and started walking over towards her, having enough, Ron stepped in front of Hermione to protect her, "I'm tired of this Ronald Weasley! I'm tired of you not defending your own girlfriend but defending this bitch, it's either her or me –"

"Don't," He warned, his insides were bursting in pure anger and he was shaking violently, "Ever call her that." He ignored the last part of what Lavender trying to make him choose between her and Hermione. Seeing the way she has been crazily acting all day over the stupidest thing, he knew Hermione was right, he did deserve better. "You okay," he whispered to Hermione, who looked just as shaken up as he felt and she nodded weakly, "Come on let's get out of here."

"Fine," Lavender said, tears flowing in her eyes, "I see how it is, we're over, Ron. Have fun with Granger."

"Don't talk to me," Ron snapped glaring over at her, "Come on, Hermione." He pulled a shaken Hermione out of the common, even though he and his now ex girlfriend had just broken up, he felt fine even though he was still enraged by that encounter and he was more concerned for his friend, "Are you alright?" Hermione smiled through her tears and whispered, "I should be asking you that."

Ron chuckled and pulled her into a hug, "I'm fine 'Mione, you're right. I don't want to be in relationship with someone as mental as her. It's been a long time coming, honestly."

"I'm glad you did," Hermione whispered, "You deserve someone better than her."

"I know," Ron smiled, "It's over Hermione, no matter how many times she tries to apologize, I'm done with her."

"That's what you said last time," A voice teased and Ron turned to see Ginny walking over towards them, "I just wanted to see if you two were alright?"

"I'm fine but Hermione's a little shaken up," Ron said, he still had an arm around her, "Is it safe for me to go back in and get my potion supplies?"

"No," Ginny laughed, "Lavender is still making a scene and getting angry at everyone for not siding with her. You can go back though if you want to, I'm sure she'll love to have a round two with – "

"The bloody hell I don't want to go back in there!" Ron said, "If she's in there, I'll wait til the bell rings."

"I can get your supplies for you," a quiet voice said and they turned around to see Harry standing there, "I'm about to go back to the common room anyways, I just heard what happened and wanted to see if you two were alright?"

"Hermione's shaken up," Ron repeated, "But I'm fine."

Harry walked over and gave Hermione a hug before turning to Ron, "Where's your stuff?"

"It's right beside my nightstand, my potion book is already in the bag."

Harry nodded and walked towards the common, Ron and Hermione gave each other a meaningful look. "What's going on between you two?" Ginny asked, "You and Harry?"

"We're being civil," Ron said honestly, "I think we're just tired of arguing with each other."

"Well, good," Ginny said looking nervous, "Because I wanted to talk to you, I really like Harry, Ron and I know you two have your differences but – "

"If you want to date Harry," Ron interrupted and smiled, "I think that's great, Ginny. I rather it be Harry then someone else."

"Really?"

"Really," Ron said and grinned broadly when Ginny hugged him, what he said was true. Although he was protective as hell of his little sister, he would've been supportive if her and Harry started to see each other. He thought about telling her about the interview with Rita, but he wanted it to be a surprise for Harry and he knew Ginny would probably tell him, she was the worst at keeping secrets. As they walked to potions class, Ron realized how excited he was for the daily prophet to come out tomorrow so he could see Harry's reaction.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – The Second Interview

Ron woke up feeling a mixture of nervousness and excitement about his second interview being published in the Daily Prophet. He looked over towards Harry's bed and saw that the curtains were still closed around his bed, his former best friend was still sound asleep. As Ron stared at the curtains, he wondered if doing another interview with Rita Skeeter would be enough to show Harry how sorry he was but what if doing the interview with Skeeter wasn't enough and it made things worse than it already was? Harry had just started talking to him again, what if he sees the article and decides he doesn't want anything to do with Ron? Being unable to sleep or be in their dormitory any longer, Ron got up and got dressed before heading down the staircase. Hermione was already awake and she grinned when she saw Ron, "I went down to the Great Hall extra early to get the Daily Prophet! Your article is on the first page!"

"What?!" Ron's heart did a backflip, "Did Skeeter–"

"No!" Hermione exclaimed, "It's brilliant! Look!" She handed Ron the article of the Daily Prophet and as he read, he began to feel relieved, the article had everything Ron said during his interview and his words weren't twisted in anyway. As Ron, handed back Hermione the paper, Harry had walked down the staircase, looking like he hadn't slept all night and seemed upset. However, before any of them could say anything, he smiled shyly and walked out of the common room to go to breakfast.

By the time Ron had gotten to the Great Hall, Harry had already left and he felt a little disappointment not knowing if he saw the article. He did notice people whispering around him and staring while he filled his plate up with food. Hermione sat down next to Ron, along with Ginny and just as Ron opened his mouth to ask if either of them had seen Harry, Lavender walked in with Parvati. With all of the excitement going on about his article being on the front page, he had forgotten him and Lavender had broken up the previous night. He avoided her vicious glares and waited until she walked past him before turning to his sister and best friend, "So have either of you seen Harry?"

"No," Hermione said, "Harry likes to go on a walk after breakfast, we probably won't see him until Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Oh," Ron frowned, "I didn't know that."

"He's been doing that since the end of last year," Ginny said, reading Ron's mind, "Harry says it takes his mind off of everyone accusing him of lying about You-Know-Who."

"So, you reckon he hasn't even seen the article yet?" Ron asked looking around the Great Hall, watching other students glimpse through the paper.

"Harry rarely reads the Prophet and I don't blame him, it's gone rubbish ever since last June," Hermione said calmly, "But I think word will get out that there's actually a positive article in today's edition about him and he'll read it."

Ron opened his mouth to say something but at that moment the bell rang and he sighed, "I hope this Umbridge woman doesn't make us do a lot of work, I can't concentrate in any classes right now."

"Oh ickle little prefect Ronnikins," A voice said behind him and he turned to see his twin brothers smirking, "You're in for the worst of it!"

"Why?" Ron asked feeling his ears go red, ever since he's been made prefect, the twins have been tormenting him.

"This is the year you have your O.W.L. exams," George said in an annoying sing song voice, "You're going to be in piles of work."

"And don't think the professors are going to let you off easy, little brother," Fred warned, still looking amused, "They're never going to stop reminding you about your O.W.L exams, they drove us mad."

"And everyone else," George said, "I lost count of how many people in our year had to go to the hospital wing or had a breakdown in class."

"I'm sure Ron will do just fine," Hermione chimed in as they walked further down the corridor.

"But then why did our dear little prefect brother say he hoped he didn't have a lot of work?" Fred asked, grinning at Ron, who was throwing daggers at the two of them.

"Because," Hermione sighed and glanced at Ron, then added in a low voice, "He's nervous about how Harry is going to react once he reads the interview Ron did with Rita Skeeter." Ron was pleased to see the smirks being wiped off of his twin brothers.

"Oh," Fred said, now looking serious and glanced at George.

"But now thanks to you two prats, I definitely won't be able to concentrate in class," Ron glared at the two of them, he had completely forgotten that this year was their O.W.L year until the two gits reminded him.

"Look Ron," George said quietly, "I don't think you have anything to worry about Harry."

"With all the negative publicity he's been receiving," Fred added, "I think he'll be thrilled that an article was published about someone believing him."

"That's what I've been telling him," Hermione said, "You were very brave for admitting you were wrong and I'm sure Harry is going to appreciate that."

"And even if he doesn't," Fred grinned, whipping his wand out jokingly, "We'll talk to him for you."

"But I don't think that'll happen, mate," George said, "Anyways, our class is this way we'll see you two later."

The twins walked off in a different direction and Ron sighed, as they got closer to the classroom, Ron felt so nervous, he began to feel sick. "It'll be alright, Ron," Hermione soothed him and kissed his cheek. He smiled at his friend and opened his mouth to say something but he heard a loud cough and he turned around to see Lavender walk by him, throwing a dirty look at him and Hermione. Ron stared after his ex-girlfriend and the reality of them getting back together will never happen. He wasn't sure how he felt about that, he was glad that he didn't have to deal with Lavender's drama anymore but at the same time, they had been together since their third year and she was his first girlfriend. Besides from Hermione and his siblings, Lavender was really the only other person there for him with when Ron had lost his friendship with Harry and helped him a lot throughout the summer whenever he felt lonely. He felt someone squeezed his hand and looked up to see Hermione watching him, looking concerned, "Are you alright?" she asked, nodding towards Lavender, "You look upset."

"Yeah, I'm ok 'Mione," Ron sighed and squeezed her hand back, "I just realized, it's really over between us after being together for two years."

"You deserve better," Hermione repeated, throwing a dirty look over towards Lavender and Parvati, who were still gossiping about him, "You'll meet the right person, any girl would be lucky enough to date you."

"Thanks, 'Mione." Ron grinned, he wasn't sure why but the mention of him dating another girl made him feel somewhat uncomfortable, he kissed her cheek and ignored the death glares both Parvati and Lavender were throwing at him. Just then Harry joined the crowd and out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Harry glance at him curiously but when Ron made eye contact with him, Harry smiled and made his way into the classroom once the classroom door opened.

Ron took a seat near the back, trying to ignore Lavender walking right by him, began to take out his book when Professor Umbridge asked them too. Hermione sat down next to Ron and he was in the middle of pulling out a piece of parchment and quill when a quiet voice said, "Can I sit next to you?" He looked up and to his surprise, Harry was standing there, looking hesitant but grinned when Ron nodded and moved over his books so he would have room. "Look Ron," Harry started, glancing at Hermione, who nodded at him encouragingly, but whatever he was about to say was interrupted when Professor Umbridge started to teach her lesson. While they were instructed to read from their textbooks, Ron couldn't help but daydream, it was distracting enough to have Harry sitting right next to him. He wanted to glance at Harry but it was awkward enough not knowing whether or not his former friend felt about his interview with Rita Skeeter. He obviously wanted to sit next to Ron, which was a first since they stopped speaking to one another. Finally, Ron couldn't take it any longer and decided to steal a quick glance at Harry. To his surprise, he wasn't reading his textbook either but he also wasn't looking at Ron, he was staring at Hermione. Ron turned to look over at her and to his astonishment, her book was closed and her hand was up in the air. Along with the rest of the class, Ron stared at her questionably until finally, Professor Umbridge decided she couldn't ignore Hermione any longer since the class wasn't doing their assigned readings.

"Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" she asked Hermione, as though she only just noticed her.

"Not about the chapter, no," said Hermione.

"Well, we're reading just now," said Professor Umbridge, showing her a nasty smile and Ron felt revolted at how small and pointy her teeth were, "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."

"I've got a query about your course aims," said Hermione.

Ron looked at her in shock, this was very unlike Hermione and then he looked at Professor Umbridge, who had her eyebrows raised.

"And your name is - ?"

"Hermione Granger."

"Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully." Said Professor Umbridge in a voice of determined sweetness that made Ron want to vomit, he was beginning to dislike his new professor more and more.

"Well, I don't," said Hermione bluntly, "There's nothing written up there about _using_ defensive spells."

Ron had been so distracted by Harry, he hadn't noticed the course aims at the front of the class. He looked at them and frowned when he realized Hermione was right. He looked around the class to see they were also frowning at the three course aims written on the blackboard.

"Using defensive spells?" Professor Umbridge repeated with a little laugh that made Ron's skin crawl, "Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to use a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"

Ron stared at Professor Umbridge as if she were mad, "We're not going to use magic?" he ejaculated loudly, not believing a word of what he was hearing.

"Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Mr. – ?"

"Weasley," Ron said angrily, thrusting his hand into the air.

Professor Umbridge, smiling still more widely, turned her back on Ron. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Harry raise his hand along with Hermione. Umbridge's pouchy eyes lingered on Harry for a moment before addressing Hermione.

"Yes, Miss Granger? You wanted to ask something else?"

"Yes," said Hermione. "Surely the whole point of Defense Against the Darks Arts is to practice defensive spells?"

"Are you a ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Granger?" asked Professor Umbridge in her falsely sweet voice. Ron glared at Umbridge, this woman was insane if she thought they weren't going to need how to defend themselves.

"No, but – "

"Well then, I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide what the 'whole point' of any class is. Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk free way – "

"What use is that?" said Harry loudly. "If we're going to be attacked it won't be in a – "

"_Hand, _Mr. Potter!" sang Professor Umbridge and Harry raised a fist in the air just to be ignored again and several people had their hands up too.

'And your name is?' Professor Umbridge said to Dean.

'Dean Thomas.'

'Well, Mr Thomas?'

'Well, it's like Harry said, isn't it?' said Dean. 'If we're going to be attacked, it won't be risk free.'

'I repeat,' said Professor Umbridge, smiling in a very irritating fashion at Dean, 'do you expect to be attacked during my classes?'

'No, but –'

Professor Umbridge talked over him. 'I do not wish to criticise the way things have been run in this school,' she said, an unconvincing smile stretching her wide mouth, 'but you have been exposed to some very irresponsible wizards in this class, very irresponsible indeed – not to mention,' she gave a nasty little laugh, 'extremely dangerous half-breeds.'

'If you mean Professor Lupin,' piped up Dean angrily, 'he was the best we ever –'

_'Hand,_ Mr Thomas! As I was saying – you have been introduced to spells that have been complex, inappropriate to your age group and potentially lethal. You have been frightened into believing that you are likely to meet Dark attacks every other day –'

'No we haven't,' Hermione said, 'we just –'

_'Your hand is not up, Miss Granger!'_

Hermione put up her hand. Professor Umbridge turned away from her.

'It is my understanding that my predecessor not only performed illegal curses in front of you, he actually performed them on you.'

'Well, he turned out to be a maniac, didn't he?' said Dean hotly. 'Mind you, we still learned loads.'

_'Your hand is not up, Mr Thomas!'_ trilled Professor Umbridge. 'Now, it is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to get you through your examination, which, after all, is what school is all about. And your name is?' she added, staring at Parvati, whose hand had just shot up.

'Parvati Patil, and isn't there a practical bit in our Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL? Aren't we supposed to show that we can actually do the counter-curses and things?'

'As long as you have studied the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examination conditions,' said Professor Umbridge dismissively.

'Without ever practising them beforehand?' said Parvati incredulously. 'Are you telling us that the first time we'll get to do the spells will be during our exam?'

'I repeat, as long as you have studied the theory hard enough –'

'And what good's theory going to be in the real world?' said Harry loudly, his fist in the air again.

Professor Umbridge looked up.

'This is school, Mr Potter, not the real world,' she said softly.

'So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting for us out there?'

'There is nothing waiting out there, Mr Potter.'

'Oh, yeah?' said Harry. Ron could tell his temper was rising, Harry was so angry he was shaking.

'Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?' enquired Professor Umbridge in a horribly honeyed voice.

'Hmm, let's think …' said Harry in a mock thoughtful voice. 'Maybe … _Lord Voldemort?'_

Ron gasped; Lavender Brown uttered a little scream; Neville slipped sideways off his stool. Professor Umbridge, however, did not flinch. She was staring at Harry with a grimly satisfied expression on her face.

'Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr Potter.'

The classroom was silent and still. Everyone was staring at either Umbridge or Harry.

'Now, let me make a few things quite plain.'

Professor Umbridge stood up and leaned towards them, her stubby-fingered hands splayed on her desk. 'You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead –"

"What is with you and your ministry pals pretending as if everything is all fine and dandy?" Ron recovering quickly after Harry said You-Know-Who's name, he looked at Professor Umbridge as if she grew two heads, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "If Harry says You-Know-Who is back, he's back and if you or ministry pals weren't so thick in the head, you would believe him!" Everyone stared at Ron, he noticed Seamus and Dean whisper about the article he did in the Daily Prophet. He also saw Harry, who was shaking violently in anger, threw him a quick grateful look.

"That's another five points from Gryffindor, Mr. Weasley," Professor Umbridge snapped, looking at Ron, "Now as I was saying, you have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead – "

"He wasn't dead," said Harry angrily, "but yeah, he's returned!"

"Mr.-Potter-you-and-Mr.-Weasley-have-already-lost-your-House-fifteen-points-do-not-make-matters-worse-for-yourself," said Professor Umbridge in one breath without looking at him. "As I was saying, you have been informed that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. _This is a lie."_

"It is NOT a lie!" said Harry. "I saw him, I fought him!" Ron looked at Harry and admired him for not backing down on the truth no matter how many times this Professor Umbridge git or the prats at the ministry tried to accuse him of lying.

"Detention, Mr. Potter!" said Professor Umbridge triumphantly. "Tomorrow evening. Five o'clock. My office. I repeat, _this is a lie. _The Ministry of Magic guarantees that you are not in danger from any Dark wizard. If you are still worried, by all means come and see me outside class hours. If someone is alarming you with fibs about reborn Dark wizards, I would like to hear about it. I am here to help. I am your friend. And now, you will kindly continue your reading. Page five, 'Basic for Beginners."

She sat down behind her desk again. To Ron's amazement and horror, Harry stood up. Everyone was staring at him. "Harry, no!" Hermione whispered in a warning voice reaching across the room to grab his sleeve but Harry jerked his arm out of her reach.

"So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord, did he?" Harry asked and Ron noticed that his voice cracked when he mentioned Cedric's name and his voice was shaking.

With their falling out, Ron had never heard Harry talk about what happened on the night Cedric had died. Along with the rest of the class, he stared from Professor Umbridge to Harry. To his disgust, Professor Umbridge had a nasty fake smile on her face.

"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident," she said coldly.

"It was murder," Harry shouted, he was shaking uncontrollably and Ron, despite his shock of hearing this news, couldn't help but notice Harry was getting emotional. He knew he wasn't the only one who was hearing this for the first time, all thirty of his classmates were listening eagerly, "Voldemort killed him and you know." Ron's heart leaped as he stared in shock and horror at Harry, the class was so silent, they could hear Peeves down the corridor causing chaos.

After the shock wore off Professor Umbridge's face, she said in a high girlish voice, "Come here, Mr. Potter, dear."

Harry got up, kicked his chair aside and walked up to the teacher's desk. Ron stared at Harry and glanced nervously at Hermione, who was also looking at Harry, watching as Professor Umbridge pulled a small roll of pink parchment out of her handbag and started scribbling. After a minute or so she rolled up the parchment, tapped it with her wand and said, "Take this to Professor McGonagall, dear," she said sweetly, holding out the note to him. Harry angrily snatched it out of her hand and left the room, slamming the door shut. After a few moments of silence, Professor Umbridge looked around the classroom and said in her disgusting high pitch voice, "Now, unless anyone else wants detention, I suggest you continue with your reading until the bell rings."

"Did you know that?" Ron asked Hermione quietly after the bell rang, "About Diggory?"

"No," Hermione said, looking around the corridors for Harry, "I never asked him, with him wanting space, I figured he would tell me once he was ready."

Harry wasn't in the next lesson, to Ron's disappointment and he wasn't in the common room or at dinner either which made him even more concerned. He could tell Hermione was worried as well even though she glared around the Great Hall, Harry's encounter with Umbridge had gotten around the school and people were starting to whisper about it. As their detention time drew closer, Ron had began to wonder if Harry would be there. No one had seen him since his shouting match with Umbridge and Ron began to wonder if he had gotten into a lot of trouble with McGonagall after he left class. He glanced at McGonagall at the staff table and she was chatting away merrily to Professor Dumbledore. "Should we go ask McGonagall if Harry's alright?" Ron asked as they started to walk out of the great hall.

"No," Hermione sighed looking just as anxious as he felt, "If he doesn't show up in detention with you then we'll go see her."

Hermione walked him to Snape's office and Harry wasn't there yet, she hugged Ron and said, "I'll stay up and wait, if Harry doesn't turn up we'll – "

"Why wouldn't I turn up?" a voice said behind her and both turned to see Harry standing there looking exhausted but he smiled when Hermione threw her arms around him.

"Where have you been? I've been so worried!"

"I'm alright 'Mione," Harry said, "I just wanted some alone time and lost track of time."

Before anyone could say anything else, Professor Snape opened the door and both Harry and Ron said goodbye to Hermione. As they entered the storage closet, they both quietly started to sort through the potion ingredients. Ron kept stealing a couple of glances towards Harry, who looked distracted, he wondered if he should say anything to him but decided now wasn't the best time. Whenever Harry caught his eyes, he looked back at Ron curiously and made a small comment about how he was sick of looking at all of these potion ingredients. As the minutes passed by, Ron felt himself get distracted, should he say something? What if Harry lost his temper with him? What if this wasn't the right time to talk to him?

As an hour passed by and being unable to take the long awkward silence, Ron finally decided to say something. "That was really brave," he said nervously, Harry glanced up at him, "What you did in Umbridge's class and not backing down when she accused you of lying about Cedric."

"Thanks, Ron." Harry said quietly, for a second Ron thought he saw tears filling his eyes but Harry looked away quickly.

"Are you alright, mate?" he frowned looking at Harry concerned, when he didn't respond Ron got up and walked over towards him. To his shock, tears were indeed running down his face and he was shaking. Ron silently put a hand on his back in comfort and was relieved when Harry didn't shove it away like he thought he would. They sat there in silence, Ron was rubbing his back, waiting for him to say something. Tears were still streaming down his face and finally he looked at Ron, "I loved him – Cedric," Harry's voice cracked, "We've been together since the night my name came out of the Goblet of Fire."

Ron stared quietly at Harry, still rubbing his back, not believing what he was hearing. Harry is gay?! He would've never guessed that, even though it explained a lot, Ron thought back to last year and remembered there were long periods of time where Harry would sneak out at night and didn't come back to the common room until sunrise. Whenever Ron asked him what he was doing, Harry would make up an excuse about the Triwizard Tournament and needing to think. However, he was torn about how he felt about Harry being gay and in love with Cedric, Ron was raised to think homosexuality was wrong and he knew his mother would've disowned them if any one of them turned out to be gay and he was taught to never befriend a someone who identified as gay. But Ron couldn't stop being friends with Harry just because he found out he was gay, especially when the boy who lived was going through a very difficult time. "How come you never told me or Hermione?" He finally asked, still rubbing Harry's back in attempt to soothe him.

"I didn't think either of you would accept it," Harry's voice was so broken that Ron stopped rubbing his back and put an arm around him, "We didn't want anyone to know until the final task was over. It's my fault he's dead, I begged him to take the cup with me."

It all finally started to make sense, that is why Harry wanted to have space after the third task because he had just lost his boyfriend that no one knew about. Ron felt his stomach drop in disgust just thinking how he acted towards Harry and betraying him the way he did with going to Rita Skeeter after the third task. If only he knew, he would've understood.

"I'm sorry for what I did," Ron whispered, feeling horrible for everything he put Harry through, "If I had known…"

"I forgive you," Harry said looking at Ron, wiping his tears away, "I never had a chance to tell you earlier but thanks for going to Rita Skeeter and taking back what you said last year and for defending me in class. It meant a lot to me, I can't believe you got Skeeter to cooperate without twisting your words though."

"Oh that was easy," Ron snickered, just taking notice of how beautiful Harry's emerald eyes were, "I threatened to go to my dad and Percy about her being an unregistered Animagus."

"Really?" Harry smirked, "I bet she didn't like that –"

"Not in the slightest," Ron grinned and then sighed, "Harry, listen, it's not your fault about Cedric. You shouldn't have to feel guilty about what happened, if You-Know-Who wanted to kill him, there was nothing you could've done. I didn't know him too well but I'm sure he wouldn't have wanted you to blame yourself."

Harry turned to look at him with a meaningful expression that Ron couldn't make out and without realizing what was happening, Harry quickly leaned in to kiss him. It took him by surprise and at first, he wanted to pull away from the kiss but then he realized how nice of a feeling it was to have their lips pressed together that he started to kiss Harry back, enjoying every moment of it. When they broke apart, they stared at each other, finally he whispered, "I'm sorry Ron, I don't know what – "

"It's okay, Harry," Ron breathed, feeling a little confused, he just kissed Harry and liked it. He kissed a bloke but he was certain he wasn't gay, was he?

"I don't know what got over me," Harry muttered, their faces were inches apart from one another, "But do you mind keeping this from Hermione? I'm still not ready to tell anyone."

"Anything, mate." Ron laughed nervously, "So we're good now right?"

"Yeah," Harry beamed, "With everything going on, I sort of could use my best mate at the moment."

Ron patted his back and he wasn't sure what caused him to do it, but he leaned in again to kiss Harry. As the kiss deepened, he began to realize how much he enjoyed kissing another guy and it confused the bloody hell out of him. Ron had grown up to think being gay was unacceptable and he knew he would be disowned if his mother had ever found out. He so lost in thought about kissing Harry that when the door opened, both of them broke away startled. Ron looked up and saw the last person he wanted to see; Professor Snape.

"Well, well, well," he sneered looking between the two of them, "Having fun aren't we?"

Ron gulped and looked at Harry; he was panicking too. They had been caught snogging each other by Snape. Ron knew right there and then, his life was over, there was no way he was going to keep this a secret from anyone and the whole school was going to know by tomorrow that Ron had been caught kissing Harry Potter during their detention.


End file.
